Bureau of Meteorology wave buoy in SA offline again despite nine-month repair
The Cape du Couedic wave buoy sits off the coast of south-west Kangaroo Island. (Facebook: Exceptional Kangaroo Island)
In short:
The Cape du Couedic wave buoy was found on Kangaroo Island after breaking free from its moorings.
It follows lengthy repairs in 2024 and 2025, as well as a replacement "specialist mooring" part.
What's next?
The Bureau of Meteorology says the wave buoy will be operational again in four to six weeks.
A mooring failure has put South Australia's only Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) wave buoy out of action just five months after it returned to service following repairs that took nine months.
The Cape du Couedic wave buoy off Kangaroo Island's south-west is used by commercial fishers, and its data is considered critical by the likes of abalone divers.
It is also used by recreational fishers, surfers and divers to gauge swell conditions, but they have been without its data since late October when a message on BOM's website said the buoy had "gone adrift".
"Bureau of Meteorology technicians are in the process of undertaking repair works on the Cape de Coedic wave buoy, which suffered a mooring failure on 21 October," a BOM spokesperson said.
"We expect the buoy, which was recovered undamaged the next day on Kangaroo Island, to be operational again in four to six weeks once mooring works are completed."
The Cape du Couedic wave buoy appears to have "gone adrift" at 5pm on October 21. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)
The buoy had only been operational since June after suffering damage during August 2024 that put it out of action for nine months.
BOM blamed the lengthy delay in its repair on "logistics".
"One of the parts for the replacement system is a specialist mooring sourced from Canada, which the bureau understands experienced a supply issue and has recently been resolved," a BOM spokesperson said in March.
BOM 'losing currency'
Nationals leader David Littleproud, who was highly critical of BOM over its recent website upgrade failure, said it had been "littered with errors and mistakes for some years now".
"Their mistakes are unforgivable because people's livelihoods depend on the accuracy of the BOM," Mr Littleproud said.
"The latest incident in South Australia is another sad example that the Bureau of Meteorology is losing the currency that it has in regional Australia and right across the country."
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt was contacted for comment.
BOM last year defended the accuracy of its forecasts, pointing out they were consistently "ranked in the top five in the world", alongside the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
University buoys in use
While the Cape du Couedic wave buoy is BOM's only such device in SA, alternative data is available via a growing number of spotter buoys launched by Flinders University researchers since 2021.
This spotter buoy south of Adelaide is funded by Flinders University and the City of Victor Harbor. (Supplied: Flinders University)
The project, which is running in conjunction with the South Australian Research and Development Institute, SA Water, the Environment Protection Authority and Integrated Marine Observing System, seeks to better inform coastal management and sand drift, and mitigate erosion.
Water users seeking real-time and historical data on wave height, period and direction have been encouraged to access the data at www.sawaves.org.